Danny Danko
Cannabis cultivation writer, editor and grower since 2002

Danny Danko

Former Senior Cultivation Editor of High Times, author of two books on growing marijuana, host of the Grow Bud Yourself podcast.

Start the grow guide Diagnose a sick plant

Danny Danko
18 years Senior Cultivation Editor at High Times
2 books on cannabis cultivation and strains
138 episodes of the Grow Bud Yourself podcast

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  1. 01
    Indica vs Sativa Plants: The Real Differences

    5 min read
  2. 02
    Pot Leaves Symptom Chart: What Every Leaf Problem Looks Like

    5 min read
  3. 03
    Trichomes: Clear, Cloudy and Amber, and When to Harvest

    5 min read
  4. 04
    Mold on Pot: How to Spot Bud Rot and Save the Crop

    5 min read
  5. 05
    VPD Chart for Growing Weed: Temperature and Humidity by Stage

    5 min read
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About

I'm Danny Danko. I was the Senior Cultivation Editor of High Times from 2002 until 2020, which meant eighteen years of grow features, the Dear Danko reader column, picking the Top 10 Strains of the Year from 2005 to 2018, judging Cannabis Cups and photographing other people's gardens as well as my own. I wrote The Official High Times Field Guide to Marijuana Strains in 2011 and Cannabis: A Beginner's Guide to Growing Marijuana in 2018, helped launch Northeast Leaf magazine in 2020, hosted Free Weed from Danny Danko for High Times from 2011 to 2018, and co-founded the Grow Bud Yourself podcast with Mike Gianakos in 2020.

This site is where that work lives now, under one roof and in an order that makes sense. The grow guide runs from germination to the cure, one chapter per decision, written from what I have actually watched work and fail. The plant problems pages are built around photographs so you can match what you are looking at, not guess from a description. The Dear Danko column is back and answering. The books are here with an honest comparison to the other titles on the shelf, and the about page has the full career timeline if you want to know who is talking.

Full bio and career timeline

New to cannabis growing? Looking for a guide that's easy to understand and follow? Well look no further than Danny Danko's CANNABIS.

DJ Shortbreeder of Blueberry, author of Cultivating Exceptional Cannabis

Danny has a plethora of insight.

Redman

An invaluable resource.

Dru Westauthor of Secrets of the West Coast Masters

Most recent

Grow Bud Yourself podcast

All episodes

Books

Both books, plus the honest comparison

Dear Danko

The reader Q&A column from High Times, back and answering. Send a question.

Questions people ask about Danny Danko

Who is Danny Danko?

Danny Danko is a cannabis cultivation writer, editor, photographer and grower. Born Daniel Vinkovetsky in Leningrad in 1972, he was Senior Cultivation Editor of High Times from 2002 to 2020, wrote the Dear Danko column, personally selected the Top 10 Strains of the Year from 2005 to 2018 and founded the High Times Seed Bank Hall of Fame in 2007. He has written two books on growing and hosts the Grow Bud Yourself podcast.

How long was Danny Danko at High Times?

Eighteen years. Danny Danko joined High Times in 2002 and was Senior Cultivation Editor until April 2020, when he left in the layoffs at the start of the COVID pandemic. In that time he wrote the magazine's cultivation columns, answered reader questions as Dear Danko and judged Cannabis Cups in Amsterdam and across the United States.

What books has Danny Danko written?

Two. Cannabis: A Beginner's Guide to Growing Marijuana (Hampton Roads, 2018, 144 pages) covers a first grow from seed to cure. The Official High Times Field Guide to Marijuana Strains (High Times Books, 2011, 180 pages) profiles strains from his judging and growing notes. Both are described on the books page, with how each compares to other grow books.

What is the Grow Bud Yourself podcast?

Grow Bud Yourself is the cannabis cultivation podcast Danny Danko co-founded in 2020 with Mike Gianakos, former Editor-in-Chief of High Times. It grew out of Free Weed from Danny Danko, the High Times show he hosted from 2011 to 2018, and the same feed now runs to 138 numbered episodes through October 2024 on Acast. Guests are growers, breeders, cup judges and activists.

Where do I start if I have never grown weed before?

Start at the first chapter of the grow guide, germination, and read in order. The guide is written as a sequence: germination, indica vs sativa, male vs female, VPD, trichomes, harvest, drying and curing, with more chapters being added. Each chapter ends with the next step. If you already have a plant that looks wrong, go to the plant problems section instead.

How do I get a question answered in Dear Danko?

Use the form on the Dear Danko page. Describe what you are growing in, what you feed, your lights, temperature and humidity, and what changed before the problem started. Questions that will help the most growers are answered first, and every answer is published as a page on this site. Email is not used for grow questions; the form is.

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